One of the few real bits of news to come out of the Macau chief executive’s maiden policy address, and one that could have a short-term tangible impact on the gaming market, is a proposal for closer ties between Macau and Taiwan.
Asian Gaming Intelligence wonders if it’s not only a diplomatic gesture from Beijing to Taiwan (Beijing must surely have had to approve Macau’s move first), but also a sign that Taiwan has all but given up on having its own casino resorts.
On the other hand it could be a ‘You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ sort of move. If Taiwan does ever manage to organise casino resorts, it will surely need the support of mainland Chinese players to make them work effectively. Taiwan cosying up to Macau now might just do the trick in persuading China to let its people go to Taiwan casinos.
In January, Taiwanese were the third largest group of visitors to Macau with 5.7% of arrivals (115,000), according to DSEC, Macau’s statistics and census service. Prior to December 2008, Macau used to have more monthly arrivals from Taiwan, but many of them were simply in transit via Macau International Airport. That was because before late 2008, China banned direct flights from Taiwan to the Chinese mainland.
Closer formal links between Macau and Taiwan could boost cooperation on issues such as tourism marketing, scheduled air services and immigration. Technically, Beijing regards Taiwan as a breakaway province. But under Taiwan’s current president, Ma Ying-jeou, ‘The Republic of China’ as it styles itself, has been on less frosty terms with the People’s Republic. China has even accepted Taiwan’s participation in the Olympics, but under the compromise diplomatic title ‘Chinese Taipei’.
Macau’s chief executive Fernando Chui also said in a press conference after his policy address that the government would set up a body to monitor the development of the Macau gaming industry and that it was prepared to “regulate” on the issue of expansion in the future.
Mr Chui indicated, however, that even tentative schemes such as Wynn’s and SJM’s respective plans for Cotai resorts would come under the ‘prior approval’ category. That suggests there is still considerable wiggle room for industry growth.
The chief executive did make it clear that operators would not be able to hang on to land indefinitely without submitting detailed plans for projects approved in broad principle. But he set no timetable for any claw back of land.
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